After losing its opener in the Big Ten Tournament against Penn State, 5-2, Iowa pieced together three wins over Purdue, Penn State and Michigan to get within one game of the Big Ten Tournament championship game.
Following their tournament-opening loss, the Hawkeyes collected a 5-4 win over Purdue on Friday, an 11-3 triumph over Penn State on Saturday and a 7-3 win over Michigan on Saturday. That had Iowa one win away from meeting up with Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. In the process, Iowa became the first team to win two games on the same day during the tournament.
Alas, the Hawkeyes seemingly just ran out of pitching. The second game against Michigan was Iowa’s fifth game in four days. Freshman Brody Brecht got the start, but retired just one Wolverine batter and surrendered a pair of earned runs before being replaced by redshirt senior Dylan Nedved.
Nedved temporarily steadied the Big Ten Tournament semifinal contest against Michigan, tossing three innings and allowing a pair of unearned runs. The Hawkeyes did get one run back in the bottom of the fourth inning after Izaya Fullard walked and Kyle Huckstorf delivered an RBI single.
That was it, though, and Michigan opened the floodgates in the top of the seventh. The Wolverines scored nine runs on three hits, while sending 13 batters to the plate. Tito Flores had a two-run double, Ted Burton had a three-run double and Clark Elliott and a three-run triple in the inning.
Ultimately, it meant both the end of Iowa’s Big Ten Tournament run and its season after the NCAA Tournament field was unveiled without the Hawkeyes in it. Iowa ends its season 36-19 overall and with a 17-7 mark in Big Ten regular season play.